One factor that can come into effect is that
within Rinkya's system, Rinkya users are
(oddly enough) also bidding against each
other.
To me, seeing Vhd_link means, "Oh crap,
potentially more than one pesron wants this
item"... but , a bid war is a bid war.
Granted, if deputy services didn't exist, bids
might dramitically diminish; winning bid
prices would be lower; and a selective Otaku
that love to feed their hobby of securing
Japanese goodies might have to solely resort
to monthly / yearly (AX) convention finds.
If you're using a deputy service and bid more
than you can pay, undoubtedly things would
get VERY ugly. And since most Yahoo! Japan
auctions are 'sniper' protected (bids after the 5
minute mark will reset to an additional 5
minutes to allow for a rebutal), the arguement
that, "I didn't get a chance to bid on the item."
doesn't hold.
The bottom line is, if you have the 'auction'
money to pay / bid for an item you'll do so
(imo).
Perhaps the "heyday" (less competition) on YJ
bidding has come to an end...::sigh::...